Royal Mazurka Mazurek Krolewski Recipes

MAZUREK KRóLEWSKI: POLISH ROYAL MAZUREK RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
• By hand, stir in almonds, zest , flour, making sure to measure flour correctly , and the two hard-cooked egg yolks.
• Add raw egg yolk, salt, and cinnamon, and mix into a smooth dough. This entire process, from step 1, can be done in a food processor, if you prefer.
• Place dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat oven to 375 F. Cut off 1/3 dough and return, wrapped, to the refrigerator. Roll out 2/3 dough and place on an 8-inch-by-11-inch tart pan with a removal bottom or a small sheet pan. Pierce or "dock" the dough with the tines of a fork.
• In a small bowl, make an egg wash by whisking together the 1 whole egg with 1 teaspoon water.
• Roll out remaining 1/3 dough and cut into 1/4-inch strips. Arrange strips lattice-style over dough. Brush lattice strips with the egg wash.
• Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until light golden brown and crisp.
• Allow to cool completely. Place pastry on a serving plate and spoon fruit preserves alternately into the open spaces of the lattice work. Sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar.

MAZUREK MIGDALOWY OR ORZECHOWY (ALMOND OR WALNUT MAZURKA)

Steps:

• Sift 2 cups flour and sugar together into a deep mixing bowl.
• Use a spoon to push the egg yolks through a fine sieve into the flour mixture; mix well.
• Add the almonds, vanilla, and cream to flour mixture; and beat in 1/2 lb of butter, a few tablespoons at a time.
• Knead with your hands until dough is smooth and can be formed into a compact ball.
• Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Grease a large cookie sheet with the remaining tablespoon of butter; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons of flour, tipping from side to side to cover completely and evenly.
• Turn the sheet upside down and tap on the bottom to shake off any excess flour.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/4" thin and place on buttered cookie sheet, using fingers to spread dough so it completely covers the bottom of the pan.
• Brush entire surface with egg, then sprinkle evenly with sliced almonds, gently pressing them into the dough (or if you used walnuts in the dough, you may prefer to use the meringue topping: if you do, beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla, beating continuously; spread over the dough instead of the egg and nuts).
• Bake until pastry is golden brown (20-25 minutes).
• Remove from oven, and with a lightly buttered knife, cut into 2"x1" bars.
• Carefully transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.

ROYAL MAZURKA (MAZUREK KROLEWSKI)

Steps:

• Mazurkas:.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Beat eggs with sugar for 10 minutes, until light and fluffy. Mix water with lemon juice, and add to the eggs in a thin stream while beating. Beat 5 more minutes. Add flour, almonds, and butter alternately. Mix lightly to incorporate.
• Divide batter between two 9 X 13 baking pans lined with buttered parchment paper.
• Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden.
• Cool slightly, then turn them out onto a rack to completely cool.
• Meanwhile make icing (directions below).
• Spread one cake with jam, cover it with the other cake and spread the icing over the top.
• Icing:.
• Stir warm water, lemon juice and confectioner's sugar together until the sugar completely dissolves and the icing is smooth. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add more water if necessary. If you get it too thin, add more sugar.

POLISH ROYAL MAZUREK - MAZUREK KROLEWSKI

Steps:

• Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.By hand, stir in almonds, zest, flour, making sure to measure flour correctly, and hard-cooked egg yolks.Add raw egg yolk, salt and cinnamon, and mix into a smooth dough. This entire process, from step 1, can be done in a food processor, if you prefer.Place dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut off 1/3 dough and return, wrapped, to the refrigerator. Roll out 2/3 dough and place on an 8-inch-by-11-inch tart pan with a removal bottom or a small sheet pan. Pierce or "dock" the dough with the tines of a fork. Using pastry brush, egg wash (1 beaten egg with 1 teaspoon water) dough.
• Roll remaining 1/3 dough and cut into 1/4-inch strips. Arrange strips lattice-style over dough. Brush lattice strips with egg wash. Bake for 20-30 mimutes, or until light golden brown and crisp.Allow to cool completely. Place pastry on a serving plate and spoon fruit preserves alternately into the open spaces of the lattice work. Sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar.Anjali writes:"Despite the troubles with the dough and its texture, the taste was very nice. This was, by far, the MOST difficult dough I have ever worked with! It did not come together after adding the egg yolk. It wouldn't even hold together after being squeezed by hand. I had to add the rest of the egg to bring the crumbles together, then KNEAD it like a bread dough to distribute the moisture. Rolling it out was frustrating and utterly impossible. I had to press the dough into the pan and use fragments of pressed-out strips to make the lattice. All the extra handling made the dough very tough when it baked. It could only be called flaky because it crumbled like concrete! I am wondering if this might have worked better if it were approached like a traditional pie crust, with cold butter cut into the dry ingredients. I've never heard of a pie crust that calls for creamed butter and sugar, and now I might know why."Anjali makes a good point.
• This IS a difficult dough to work with, but it is a traditional recipe. The dough on this pastry is not meant to be like pie dough. It is more of a bread dough. As you can see from my step-by-step instructions, I was able to roll the dough. It IS delicate and takes a little coaxing, but as Anjali herself says, the flavor is very good. I'm interested to know if anyone else has this problem.Barbara Rolek, Your Guide to Eastern European Food